Research Interests:
My main research interest is in neutrino physics, but I am also active in developing electronics and novel detectors.
I hold a joint professorship at the University of Mainz and Fermilab. I am co-speaker of the cluster of excellence PRISMA++.
My interest is in (accelerator based) neutrino physics and detector development. Since being at the JGU Mainz, I have concentrated on the following experiments and projects.
I am part of the T2K experiment in Japan, which looks for electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam. We were awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for the measurement of neutrino oscillations and even found the first indication that neutrinos and anti-neutrinos don’t oscillate in the same way. This process may eventually hold the key to understand why there is more matter than anti-matter in the universe. We are mostly working on maintaining the DAQ for the near detectors and the measurement of neutrino interactions with neutrons in the final state.
To really understand the differences between neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, we need a new generation of experiments like DUNE . It is a very long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment located in a neutrino beam that goes from Fermilab for 1300 km to the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF). The DUNE far detector will consist of 70,000 tons of liquid argon and will have an unprecedented sensitivity to measure neutrino oscillation. Its main aim is not only to study the matter anti-matter asymmetry, but to look for neutrino from supernova explosions or for the decay of the proton. The DUNE near detectors can be moved of the neutrino beam axis and we are studying methods on how this can be used for more robust oscillation and cross section measurements.
I have also developed a novel detector for neutrino and neutron detection. These activities lead to the creation of the SoLid experiment, which searches for sterile neutrinos at the research reactor BR2 in Mol, Belgium. More recently I am part of the LiquidO Collaboration, which develops new detector concept using opaque scintillator.
As part of our Cluster of Excellence PRISMA++ we are developing new technology based on hybrid and opaque scintillators for rare event searches. See NuDoubt++ and DarkMesa for more details.
I started my career in physics doing a diploma thesis in phenomenology, looking into novel way of detecting relict neutrinos from the big bang, or solar and accelerator neutrinos. After this more theoretical start at the RWTH-Aachen, I switched to experimental physics and did my Ph.D. and first post-doc at the L3 experiment at the LEP collider at CERN. I searched for new particles (but didn’t find any) and made precision measurements of the W-boson mass.
I returned to neutrino, when I came to Oxford in 1999. I started to lead the Oxford MINOS group, who looks into the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations at Fermilab. We made a precision measurements using muon neutrinos from the NuMI beam line. More information can be found at the Fermilab MINOS page.
Later I joint the T2K experiment in Japan and in 2015 the DUNE Experiment. I was the UK PI of the LBNF/DUNE project and also leading a team to design the near detector, which is an essential component of the experiment to study the neutrino beam composition and the details of the neutrino interactions. I am the chair of the Institute Board of the International DUNE Collaboration.
In 2020 I joint the ETAP group at the JGU Mainz. I am one of the co-spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence PRISMA++.
I was on the Executive Committee of the MINOS and NOvA Experiments and was the chair of the institutional board and a member of the Executive Committee of the LAGUNA-LBNO design study. I am now the chair of DUNE’s Institute board. I also served on the HyperK PAC advising the University of Tokio and KEK in Japan on the progress of the HyperK Experiment.
I was serving on the STFC Science Board that provides advice to STFC Council and the executive on all aspects of STFC’s science and technology programme. I am a member of the LHCC advising the CERN management on the LHC experiments concentrating on CMS and previously the WLCG, and also served on the HyperK PAC advising the University of Tokio and KEK in Japan on the progress of the HyperK Experiment. I am one of the external advisor for the IPPP in Durham.
Please get in contact with me, if you are interested in master thesis in my area of research. There are many options how you can make a difference in our research. One topic is listed below.
My Erdős Number is at most 4. Thanks to Phil Rodrigues for pointing this out and providing the connection.
My Academic Family Tree can be found here.